NICOSIA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the estranged Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities of Cyprus said on Thursday that they accepted an invitation by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to meet him at dinner in New York on Sunday in a bid to break the latest deadlock in the negotiations for the reunification of the eastern Mediterranean island.
The talks between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, acting in his capacity as leader of Greek Cypriots, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci were stalled when they disagreed on the terms of a proposed international conference to wrap up a peace deal after two years of negotiations.
Anastasiades told state television that he will insist on a suggestion that the conference to be held in Geneva will focus, as a matter of priority, on concluding a deal on post-solution security arrangements.
But he left the door open, saying that a dialogue means that there should always be a flexibility that would lead to answers on the security issue by those who have a responsibility.
Akinci said after talks with Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in the occupied part of the capital Nicosia that he will insist on inclusive negotiations in which all outstanding issues must be dealt with as a package.
By accepting to meet Guterres, Anastasiades and Akinci sent out signals that they are ready to resume their negotiations, which have been entangled in disagreements for the last few months, but at the same time they indicated that they will not back down from their traditional approach to the issues that divide them.
The UN expressed satisfaction with the positive response of the two Cypriot sides to the invitation by Guterres.
"We hope that there will be a serious discussion on the next moves in the negotiations, especially on convening a new Geneva conference soon," said UN Secretary-General's special representative in Cyprus, Elisabeth Spehar.
The UN hopes that Greece and Turkey will help efforts to bring the two sides closer to a solution that evades them for over 40 years.
The special adviser of UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, Norwegian diplomat Espen Barth Eide, said after talks in Athens and Ankara earlier this week that both Greece and Turkey are ready to discuss the security issue relating to Cyprus. Enditem
